Where Everyone Is Moving in South Carolina — and What Those Places Cost Now

South Carolina gained 299,962 people from other parts of America in four years — net, after everyone who left. Charleston County got 3% of them, and Aiken County took in MORE. By 108 people. So I ranked the ten counties that actually absorbed the state, by people gained, and priced every one of them. What the numbers say before you watch: • Charleston is 11th of 46 counties on people gained, and 28th of 46 on the rate. • All ten of these are easier to afford on a local wage than Charleston. The range is 4.13x to 5.76x local income. Charleston is 7.72x. • Horry County alone took 61,477 people — one in five of everyone who moved to South Carolina — on the lowest median household income of the ten. • Rock Hill households out-earn Charleston County households. • Anderson County is the only one of the twelve counties priced here whose asking price has never been higher than it is today. • 38 of the 46 counties GAINED people. Only eight lost any. Nobody is fleeing South Carolina — it is sorting inside itself. Four numbers per county: people (net domestic migration 2021–24, which sets the order), the price and how far under Charleston it sits, the wave (how much it already ran up over six years), and the wage (price divided by what a household there actually earns). Three honest limits. These are median LISTING prices — what sellers ask, not what homes sell for. They are COUNTY level: the town names the place, the county carries the number. And 24 of South Carolina's 46 counties publish a comparable price; the rest are too small to, so "most expensive" here means most expensive of those 24. One thing I will not do: tell you the migration caused the price rises. Both are measured. The link between them is not, and you will not hear me claim it. CHAPTERS 00:00 Charleston came eleventh of forty six 00:36 What Charleston actually costs 01:22 Nobody is fleeing South Carolina 02:30 The scorecard, and its honest limits 04:02 #10 Aiken — Aiken County 04:37 #9 Bluffton & Hilton Head — Beaufort County 05:22 #8 Indian Land & Lancaster — Lancaster County 06:16 #7 Anderson — Anderson County 07:02 A quick word 07:20 #6 Rock Hill — York County 08:03 #5 Lexington — Lexington County 08:51 #4 Summerville & Moncks Corner — Berkeley County 09:42 #3 Greenville — Greenville County 10:26 #2 Spartanburg — Spartanburg County 11:17 #1 Myrtle Beach — Horry County 12:39 The eleventh: Charleston 13:35 The recap 14:02 The close SOURCES • Net domestic migration, all 46 counties: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2024 (co-est2024-alldata), components of change 2021–2024 • Median listing prices: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), Realtor.com Residential Listing Database, observation June 2026 • Median household income: US Census Bureau SAIPE (2024) via FRED Not financial, legal, tax, or real estate advice. Verify current data, visit, and talk to licensed local professionals before you move money. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Wholesome", "Deliberate Thought", "Carefree" Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution Imagery: Wikimedia Commons / Openverse / Mapillary contributors / Pexels (CC-BY / CC-BY-SA / Pexels licence).